door. he shot the door out. so we have a culture that needs to be changed, and we have people who need to look for something other than guns as a means of either protecting themselves or conflict resolution, and that includes college stacampuses where, unfortunately, it looks like a lot of guns may well come on campus and a lot of young people may have the inclination to turn to a weapon as opposed to just talking their way out of a problem. >> clint van zandt, thanks very much for joining us this hour. and that does it for us here at qu "the cycle." martin bashir picks up our coverage. >> thank you. it's a day after the president's inauguration and we wanted to talk about the president's second term agenda, we wanted to talk about his call to action on a range of issues from equal rights to immigration to climate change. but we can't because the clock counting the days without a school shooting in america has just been reset to zero. this time it's lone star college

north harris campus just outside of houston. early reports indicate up to three people were shot, and moments ago we saw our first pictures of at least two individuals being led from the scene in handcuffs. as we know, details on these incidents are often evolving and confusing, and we're going it try to bring you updates as we have them as we continue with our broadcast. but what we know for certain is that it's another frightening day of gun violence. as one student called in to report her experience from inside her english class. >> all of a sudden i heard rapid shots firing, and people started rushing in the hallways, and a few students even came into our room seeking shelter, and we closed the door and pushed a table against the door, and we were hiding, and i was just trying to call my mom. >> with word of the shooting breaking this afternoon, worried

families rushed to the scene with one man describing his nephew as one of the victims. >> they say he got shot in his arm. i don't know which one, and he got shot in the stomach and the leg. i don't know which side it's on, the right or left side. i haven't got a chance to see him. they won't let us go no further. >> the school says it is now evacuated and closed for the remainder of the day. let's bring in nbc's janet shamlian who is live for us on the scene. janet, what are you hearing as this story unfolds? >> reporter: martin, even a time now after the shooting happened, harris county sheriff's department is calling this, quote, an active and volatile scene. we still have people sheltering in place in the college, and i think an important issue here is this is not just impacting this school. there are three other schools in the area in what's called the aldean school district. you can see one of them. students at three other schools who are considerably younger,

high schools, elementary school children are on lockdown or have been on lockdown as well until just a few minutes ago. it's within the last three or four minutes that we see students coming out of this high school, nimitz high school, and being escorted onto buses. and behind me, jerry, are we able to flip around? is a line of cars of parents who have come here for their high school and elementary school students and have not been able to get them because those schools have been locked -- on lock down as well. as you mention, we have three people that have been shot. another possibly a heart attack. there are some reports that this was gang related and that we're not certain if the shooter was a student at the school, but authorities are saying that some of the students got caught in the cross fire at this college, which is a two-year community college. it's a sprawling campus here, about 20, 25 minutes north of downtown houston, and, again, martin, they're calling it an active and volatile scene at this time and keeping us quite a

distance back. >> as i understand it, janet, texas is one of 21 states where carrying concealed weapons on campuses, on school campuses, college campuses is actually against the law, is that right? >> reporter: i couldn't tell you about college campuses, but i will tell you there is a high school here in texas where teachers are carrying concealed weapons. that decision was made because of the remoteness of the school. it's not announced what teachers carry, but it is a decision they made because of their circumstances and because of the distance that law enforcement is away from them. i couldn't tell you the specifics about this particular campus. >> janet shamlian reporting for lone star college. we'll be back to you very soon. let's bring in former fbi profiler clint van zandt. clint, we heard this may have been some kind of dispute between two individuals with some being caught up in the cross fire. what are you learning from your sources? >> well, what i have heard unofficially, martin, and you and i know how confusing the reporting is in these stories

initially, was that at least one of the two shooters allegedly had a weapon in a backpack and another had what has been described as semiautomatic pistol. at least one of the shooters, perhaps one with the semiautomatic pistol, is alleged to have emptied the magazine. now, depending on the caliber of that weapon, that could be anywhere from 5 to at least 15 rounds under the current standard of magazines that could be carried for pistols like that. and i think that one of the terrible statistics you just referenced, martin, that now the clock has been reset. so far in 2013 we have had four shootings on college campuses. martin, in all of 2012, there were only about five. we've got four and we're only three weeks into this year. >> now, i understand that five days ago a texas state senator

refiled a bill to allow concealed weapons on texas tamp pu -- campuses but given the fact that in the nypd, for example, if a police officer is caught in a gun fight, the typical accuracy is something like 18%, i mean, isn't that a ludicrous idea, that people would be out there fully armed? >> martin, if you're asking me -- >> i'm asking you, clint. >> my opinion, martin, is that guns do not belong on college campuses, in high schools, anyplace else. we want to eliminate guns. now, you can have people say, well, you know, if you eliminate the guns, only the bad guys will have guns. i believe like you say, i know people in law enforcement who practice every month, and then we see shootings like we witnessed in new york last summer where totally innocent people were shot down because law enforcement in employing a weapon in a deadly situation wound up shooting innocent

people nonetheless. now, if you take college campuses and allow professors, faculty staff members, students to carry guns, are they going to turn to using their head or are they going to turn to using a gun for conflict resolution? and then, martin, one can only imagine either on a college campus or a movie theater if two or three people jump up with guns and start blasting away, how many more people are going to be hurt? guns belong in the hands of law enforcement, and they shouldn't be carried, as far as i'm concerned, by civilians in an environment like a college campus, a grade school, anyplace elsewhere that weapon could be employed in the wrong way, could be stolen, could be lost. martin, i think it is ludicrous to bring guns on campus, and i don't care -- i'm a vietnam veteran, an fbi veteran. i still don't think i or anybody else, unless it's my job, should

be carrying a gun on a college campus. >> well, your words, clint, come with great authority. clint van zandt, thank you so much. i want to bring in democratic congressman joe courtney of connecticut now. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon, martin. >> i wondered if i could get your immediate reaction to what you've just heard and what we're hearing about this shooting in houston. >> well, as chris said, the velocity of these events, one after another, just since newtown at the end of 2012 really shows that we have a very unstable situation in terms of the gun violence in this country. the president yesterday i think again powerfully mentioned the newtown situation and the need to make sure that we protect children, but we also need to extend that obviously to higher education. what chris said was well-said which is that campuses should be a place where a student like the one on that phone call should be

able to go and study english and not worry about having to dive under her desk or, you know, behind corners of the building to avoid getting injured seriously. so, you know, i'm on the education and workforce committee. we actually just met this afternoon. the chairman of the committee, mr. klein from minnesota, a republican, made a pledge that we are going to be holding hearings on school violence, and, you know, i'm trying to be an optimist that, you know, the president's words yesterday, the willingness in the house to actually have these issues brought up for consideration, are going to produce some real results that will make this a safer country. >> because this is a public health problem, isn't it? i mean, gun violence is, you know, no less significant in its impact than public health issues like obesity in this country. i mean, this is just out of control, isn't it? >> it is. and that's where -- and again

when we see the problems stretch from, you know, poor inner city schools to the rolling hills of newtown as the president said yesterday, it really shows that it is almost epidemic in terms of the scope of it, and that's why, again, the good first steps that he made using his executive branch authority to strengthen the database on people with mental illness and the gun control system was a good first start, but obviously congress really has to treat this as an issue that all of us are responsible for. >> and yet, mr. courtney, no everyone shares your view. we know that some on the right bristle even at the slightest discussion of some form of gun control. here is senator ted cruz, who represents texas, of course houston is in texas, where today's shooting took place. here he is on monday's "meet the press." >> what i don't think is constructive is what the president is doing right now, which is within minutes of that

horrible tragedy in newtown, the president began trying to exploit that tragedy to push a gun control agenda that is designed to appeal to partisans, designed to appeal to his political partisans. >> so, congressman, are we exploiting today's shooting again by discussing it or is it a fact of life that every single day this kind of incident happens and we could fill our hour every day with these incidents? >> you know, the president has been in office for years. there have been horrible shootings in aurora, the sikh temple in wisconsin -- >> the shopping mall in oregon. >> right. so the fact that, you know, we had a situation where 6-year-olds were gunned down in newtown, connecticut, is hardly an example where the president was sort of exploiting a situation politically. the fact of the matter is that like so many americans this was the final straw, and what he said that night at the interfaith vigil, what he followed through a month later with the new regulations is

exactly the way a democracy is supposed to work. when public, you know, outrage about a situation that, again, extends to our children, small children, you know, to respond to that is, in fact, doing his job, and i hope individuals like mr. cruz will temper the politics and the partisanship and really look at these pron s proposals very clearly as matters of law and constitutional principles and come up with a smart set of package that is will make our country safer. >> we're discussing a shooting at the lone star campus 20 miles north of houston where three individuals were apparently shot. an altercation or an argument occurred apparently in the library, and then one individual was -- we saw pictures of one individual handcuffed. the college has been on lockdown. there are three schools nearby that are also on lockdown.

the college itself has been evacuated and is closed for the day. >> i wonder, sir, if i could get your reaction to a texas state senator who refiled a bill five days ago to allow concealed weapons on texas campuses where the law currently prevents that. i mean, is that the answer to this problem, sir? >> it's not. and as mr. van zandt mentioned earlier, the only people who should be armed on college campuses or grade schools or high schools are licensed professional law enforcement personnel, and, you know, we went through, again, another horrible shooting at virginia tech actually under the bush administration, and the president bush to his credit actually did sign into legislation a measure that would allow, again, the database to take in records from state probate courts of people who have been found mentally incompetent. unfortunately, that system has not been funded under the republican-controlled congress over the last two years.

you know, we've got to look at that virginia tech response by a republican president, initially a democratic congress, that moved and changed policy as really the path we need to follow today and not, again, turn this country into a place where any kid going to school is going to have to be wondering about the student next to them about whether or not they're going to be engaged in some gun fight when they actually should be working towards what educational institutions are designed for, which is to produce better futures for students in our country. >> congressman joe courtney, sir, thank you so much for joining us on this difficult day. thank you, sir. next, are we facing four more years of obstruction? if you listen to mitch mcconnell, the answer is absolutely we are. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels

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the president's second term is starting where his first left off, a debt ceiling crisis and paul ryan twisting the facts. the president was quite insistent monday he will not stomach hostage taking nor medicare and social recipients referred to as takers. >> the commitments we make to each other through medicare and medicaid and social security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. they do not make us a nation of takers. they free us to take the risks that make this country great. >> and for those who need a quick campaign 2012 refresher, it was quite obvious to whom that phrase, a nation of takers, was directed at. >> we can become a society where the net majority of americans are takers, not makers. we're going to a majority of

takers versus makers in america. more takers than makers in society. takers versus makers in america. >> could have been listening to ayn rand then. joining us is democratic congressman charlie rangel of new york. >> good to be back with you. >> congratulations on a new congress. in an interview today paul ryan said those comments of his had nothing whatsoever to do with medicare and social security recipients. does he seriously expect us to believe that? or should we treat that in the same way we treat his record time for running a marathon? >> well, i really don't think that mr. ryan's statements carry as much weight as the republicans thought they would. you know, martin, when the president had his first unaugust ration, the republicans got together and they said the most

important responsibility is to destroy him and make him a one-term president. and since that time everything that the president tried to talk about, job legislation, taxes, environment, all those issues that america was concerned about, the republicans found some way to tie it up to make certain he suffered defeats. now the president has gone to the american people and said have i been wrong all along with these issues? we've debated them in the campaign. you, america, what do you think about gays and immigration? do you think i was right? or do you think the republican leadership was right? and guess what, martin? the american people said given the opportunity, we've looked at both sides and, mr. president, you do what you were elected to do. that's why the president can say we're not going to negotiate with debt ceiling, and if the republicans insist on doing it, he is going to go to their

constituents, the american people. i have never felt better. >> the president also said on monday, and i'm quoting him, we remember the lessons of our past when twilight years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. we do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few. why on earth can't paul ryan, speaker boehner, and the rest of them agree with that statement? what is wrong with that encompassing the people of this country rather than dismissing so many people as takers? why can't they agree with those statements of the president? >> because they agree with the statements by mitt romney, that half of the country are takers, half of them are people that don't contribute to society, half of them don't deserve the benefits that they're entitled to, and that 1% of this country are the people that provide the

jobs, provide everything, and they are the richest people in the world, and they didn't make it with any luck. they didn't make it with support. they made it because they were the best of america. 1%, and 99 american people said you couldn't be more wrong than you were on that, and we will show you. and had it not been for reapportionment and state legislatures and republican governors, we would have run back i really believe the house of representatives. we won it by over a million democratic votes, but i tell you this, it's going to be different in the next four years. the president found what america wanted, and he said it may sound like it's overly ambitious, but americans are overly ambitious. that's why we are where we are today. this is not our first crisis. we've got to get over it. >> sir, that was always what i have thought, but paul ryan in an interview conducted today,

okay, it's now well over a month, two months since that election, here is what he had to say. >> he basically said if we're not going to change these programs, we're not going to reform these programs to prevent it, he basically said we will not fix this debt crisis. >> he says the president doesn't want to fix the debt crisis. your response to that? >> well, the president has to, but he should know the debt crisis has nothing to do with paying your obligations of debt that's accrued. it has nothing to do with the deficit and suppressing that. it has everything to do with the integrity of americans' credit abroad and international people who depend on our form of fiscal government and integrity, and so he's talking apples and oranges. we have to deal with spending, but spending cuts doesn't necessarily mean that you're saving money. you can cut health care. you can cut education.

you can cut supporting the military, and you can pay for that one way or the other, and that means more money. so just slashing across the board and recklessly saying we're spending too much money on these things, people on social security didn't cause this crisis. people on medicare didn't cause it. poor people are not responsible for the deficit we have today, and the records show that. so hurting them may make you feel good, but every republican has somebody, some memory of everybody in their family that was not well off, and i think the president is going to remind them of that. >> congressman charles rangel, as ever, thank you so much, sir. >> thank you, martin. >> stay with us. much more ahead. time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. kathleen king had a successful bakery business in the hamptons, but a partnership that went sour resulted in her losing it. left with a store front and a recipe, she started tate's. she now makes more than 2 million cookies a week with over

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nation's capital to a plaquout of sanity for some conservatives. here are todays a "top lines" on day one. >> you don't see the rest of america throwing a party when they continue to do their jobs. >> you all dress up pretty nice. ♪ >> this little party is just another way to say thank you. >> to the main event. >> i love her bangs. ♪ i'm so in love with you >> this generation of americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. we do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few. our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts, until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. until all our children from the streets of detroit to the hills of appalachia, to the lanes of

newtown know they are cared for. my oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride. >> i want to begin with an analysis of the president's inaugural address. it was the most partisan and divisive inaugural address in living memory. >> democracy is not always easy. there are profound differences in this room. all of us serve because we believe we can make america for future generations. >> collective action. could bring you back to community organizer. >> the irony of the presidential office, which is the longer you're there, the more humble you become. >> it was supposed to be day one for -- oh, what's your name? >> mr. romney was not in attendance. not to fear. there were stars aplenty. >> morgan freeman, i think. >> he was, as he said, savoring the moment. >> thanks for the chance to continue to serve.

>> let's get right to it. we're joined by msnbc political analyst karen finney, former communications director for the dnc, and by "washington post" political reporter nia-malika henderson. nia-malika, when i think of how impressive that speech was yesterday, it seems a travesty to mention the way republicans have reacted, but i'm afraid we have no choice. first up, we have the serial adull terer newt gingrich who called the speech goofy left wingism. then the bitter john mccain complained that there wasn't enough bipartisanship, which is particularly rich. and "the wall street journal" described it as contemptuous talk. what do these people want, the president to announce he was going to invade iran? >> it's funny, newt gingrich in an interview said he felt like 80% of the speech that reagan could have delivered this speech. what he thought was the liberal kind of gobbledygook i think was

around climate change. i also remember that newt gingrich -- >> stop laughing, karen. >> -- was sitting on a couch with nancy pelosi talking about the need to address climate change. he's seemingly had a change of heart around that. this is to be expected. the president gives a speech that's the most robust defense of liberalism that he has given that has probably been given in public in the last 10 or 20 years -- >> you say that but actually the context of the speech was embracing the nation. he was trying to be inclusive. >> right. >> i think that's right. he had that line there where he placed liberalism within the larger context of americans' struggle towards equality. of course, republicans are going to have a problem with the president's speech. we had paul ryan come out today and say that the president mischaracterized the republican stance on entitlements. so i think it is back to business in terms of what the republicans want to do, and that is be obstructionist and say no to the president's agenda around

immigration, around gun control, and so we'll just have to see. i think we had a little moment of unity there during the inauguration -- >> yeah, it lasted about 15 minutes. >> right. if even. >> it's not just the contempt that nia-malika mentions these guys show for the president personally. it's also the contempt they show for the millions of people that the president is fighting for. now, listen to karl rove, whose return to fox news after embarrassing himself on election night, take a listen. >> the president said here are our generation's tasks. equal pay for equal work. i thought we got that done with that, you know, led bbetter law. >> that makes it possible for women to sue their employers for discrimination. it doesn't change the fact that women get paid less to do the same work as men. what is karl rove saying? discrimination against women, no big deal, let's just carry on. >> i think he was saying didn't

we already give the girls something to keep them quiet. shouldn't they just be quiet now? >> oh, please. >> here is the thing, i have a couple reactions. number one, having worked for the democratic party, my guess is that these -- if i think about my colleagues on the other side, the talking points and the reaction to the speech was written long before the speech was even written probably and certainly given. no matter what the president was going to say, they wanted to be able to come out and say it was not inclusive enough, that it was divisive. that's clearly part of their narrative about this president. despite the fact that -- i was trying to go through the speech myself and count -- we, together, you know, how many times he talked about -- >> right. >> and had that through line, we talked about this yesterday, when you talk about a child in ap leif palachia and a child in detroit, and a child in newtown, we're talking about shared values and concerns of the parents of those children.

the president was talking about america as it is, and as we know from the election, the republicans don't like that. they don't like the demographic changes to this country. they don't want to accept that reality. so the other part of their reaction suggests to me that some of the things that the president talked about, perhaps seneca to stone wall to selma. my question back to them do you not see those things as progress for this country? >> i would hate to put that question to them because i fear what the answer would be. speaking of sexism, the conservative crusade against reproductive freedom continues despite the fact that today, this very day, marks the 40th anniversary of the supreme court's decision in roe versus wa wade, and a new nbc poll shows that for the first time ever a majority of americans want abortion to remain legal. now, i wonder if this shift in public opinion comes as one of the unintended consequences of the republican party's war on women, which apparently still

goes on today. >> it does still go on today and if you look at the state level, i think one can argue that the pro-choice movement is losing the battle in a number of states. at least four states there's only one abortion clinic. there's several states that are passing increasingly restrictive provisions around abortion. so the pro-life movement and republicans have made inroads on the backs of republican state legislatures who are just exp d expanding the restrictions around women getting abortions. so i think on the one hand you do have this national sort of cultural shift in terms of acknowledging that women should have the right to get an abortion, but from what i can tell in terms of at the state level, there are some issues going on where the pro-choice movement is losing the kind of ground game day to day. >> karen, in the interest of full disclosure, you're on the board of naral pro-choice america.

>> yes. >> for people in the women's movement, did you think we'd get to this point 40 years after roe v. wade and you would still have to be fighting for yourself to control your own reproductive life. did you really think that? >> i really didn't. not only my own reproductive life, but to me it is my human right, my civil right to decide what medicines i take, to be able to consult with my doctor and decide what medical procedures are appropriate for me, for my body or my family. we've seen some of the most outrageous measures at the state level, even here at the federal level after trying to convince us there was no war on women last year. what was some of the first legislation we saw being put forward? defunding planned parenthood. they're trying to go back to that again. not to mention these personhood amendments. and i think part of the challenge here for the pro-choice movement and i think part of what we saw last year is women around this country and men as well because we always saw that in key battleground

states this is a top voting issue for women. naral did a poll during the election and found this. i think women and men are understanding this is about our human rights, this is about our rights to control our destiny, but there's also an element of health care to this. we've got the president's health care bill being implemented, preventative care is a part of all of this, and so i think women are going to take this very seriously, and we are going to fight back very hard on any approach to try to infringe on our rights. >> proving once again that women should be paid more than men, thank you both. stay with us. much more ahead. >> you got beyonce, kelly clarkson, james taylor, and i have to admit, this shows how far we have come as a nation, a black guy who likes james taylor. ♪ whenever i see your smiling face ♪ ♪ i have to smile myself because i love you ♪ th an irregular hea. the usual, bob?

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until today's shooting in

texas, this is how we really wanted to start our show. ♪ >> i, barack hussein obama, do solemnly swear. ♪ >> i recognize that democracy is not always easy, and i recognize there are profound differences in this room. >> he's very successful at dividing people. >> he doesn't just want to paint his points as wrong but as morally wrong. >> we cannot mistake absolutism for principles, substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. >> it was the most port san and divisive inaugural address in living memory. >> think about the jouge outrageous language. >> the commitments we make to each other, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. >> can we do that? can we protect everybody? >> they do not make us a nation of takers. they free us to take the risks that make this country great.

>> i don't even get invited to the white house media christmas party. >> i want to bring in our panel now. here no new york is joy reid, and in washington msnbc political analyst the great david corn of "mother jones." republicans have been busy crafting their critique, they're calling the president a liberal and various other things. i guess they weren't listening to what he said in that speech when he said name-calling should not be used as reasoned debate. that was what the president actually said. >> yeah, i guess he really hasn't had a lot of time in his schedule to put sean hannity on his christmas list, but while he's actually been in office attempting to do the job of president of the united states, he's also been thinking about in the second term how he wants to leave his legacy. and i thought that the speech that the president gave, it was only partisan if you believe that caring for the least of these is something only democrats want to do or if you believe that the broad shoulders of the middle class and building

the middle class upon those shoulders is a partisan thing. unless republicans are cedeing every moral principle about taking care of our fellow citizens, unless they're saying those are all only democratic principles -- >> when they are saying he was being divisive, he talked about his own oath which was to god and country, not to party and faction. >> exactly. >> what are they talking about? >> he was very explicit saying he was talking about american values and unifying the founding kreds of the countries with the policies we've pursued. the bottom line is the founding fathers left out a lot, women rights, gay rights, african-americans, and he's simply talking about perfecting that union. how is that partisan? >> let me take a little bit of issue with my dear friend, joy. i'm not saying it's partisan, but i do think the speech was a reaffirmation of the progressive tradition in american history and up to modern day america, and it doesn't surprise me that conservatives who don't believe in these programs, who don't

believe in government action to increase the rights of people or to strengthen the safety net or to rev up the economy would take issue at this and not like this speech. this was a sort ideological speech. i don't remember any of these people, anyone on the conservative commentary, decrying ronald reagan's speeches when he put out conservative principles. the government is the problem, not the solution, and gave a point of view. so, i mean, it's really i think hypocrisy on their side saying, oh, my god, the president is sharing his values with us. that's what he was doing. i think it was very bold and very well-put, and this is what we have been fighting about for the last four years. it's what we will continue to fight about for the next four years. i thought one key point to the president's speech was, he said, listen, guys, talking to his core constituency groups, i can't do this on my own. you have to be engaged and we have to come up and win the

best, sometimes partial victories we can because this is a 400-year long march that we're engaged in. >> i want you both to listen to the great senator mitch mcconnell who today this very -- >> must we? >> this very day said his objective, of course, remember in the first term was to make sure the president didn't get a second term. well, now this is what he says today. >> one thing that's pretty clear from the president's speech yesterday, the era of liberalism is back. >> the era of liberalism is back. >> right. and i think that is actually true. look, the bottom line is, and i think david corn and i aren't so far apart, the bottom line is republicans have been saying for a long time that conservative values are american values, period, and anything other than that is un-american or less than truly american. and the president is saying, no, progressive values are american, too. for 100 years we've had a social safety net and he's talking about defending it. presidents are supposed to stand on principle in their state of unions. as to mitch mcconnell, a year ago yesterday his party was meeting, members of the house

representatives, the young guns, to plot the total destruction of obama and he himself said, as you mentioned, all he cared about was -- his number one priority was making barack obama a one-term president. having failed to do that, he's going to have to deal with this president for the next four years. president obama has said he's going to fight for these principles and, of course, the opposition is going to oppose him. that's called democracy. >> david, the white house weighed in on satiaccusations t the president staged that liberal love in. >> the only ism that was part of that speech was his rejection of absolutism. it was confident and forceful because he believes we have to act. >> and, david, we do have to act, don't we? >> look at what's happening with gun violence just today. certainly the economy needs to be bolstered. the president talked about using

go. investment to the gin up our infrastructure, research capabilities. he talked about how it was dwight eisenhower and others in the past who did this in terms of our national highway system. ypt to run away from this. i don't think these are neutral ideas. i think these are progressive ideas and i think the president celebrated them and mitch mcconnell, wants to say liberal, that's the scare word that the right likes to use, but the president's very popular and lot of these ideas are quite popular so they are going to make him sound like a secret socialist who might also be a secret muslim. >> guess what? the majority of the electorate voted for him. joy, the president referenced subtly the gun violence issue, and, of course, we had that poem from richard blanco where he talked about the 20 empty desks which is very moving, but here we are and today we have another shooting. >> right. >> on a campus.

your reaction to that? >> we have a state of texas which is actually in the middle ground when it comes to gun deaths and gun violence but which has a higher than average rate of gun ownership. now, in the nra's math, that should mean that these things should never happen because there are more guns in texas. you shouldn't have incidents like that. there are lots and lots of guns there. here you had from what we're understanding, more than one person with a gun. to their calculus that should mean no shootings should happen. people being shot in the cross fire of gun violence is something so common on the streets of so many cities that it's clear that we have to address it. we simply have to. >> it's a public health problem. >> exactly. >> sorry, david, very quickly. >> i was just going to say in texas they are pushing a law that would allow concealed carry on college campuses. obviously not a good idea. >> joy, david, thank you both. we go to the white house next when we come back. do stay with us. so you say men are superior drivers?

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the scourge of gun violence was one of the big issues the president took on in his second inaugural address. now, just one day after that speech, we have yet another shooting at an american school. this time it's a community college in texas. nbc's kristin welker joins us live from the white house. kristin, it is the first day of the president's new term and we've already got another campus shooting. what is the white house saying, and do you think that this will only add further motivation to the president and the administration's team in terms of pursuing anti-gun violence? >> reporter: well, each shooting seems to add motivation to their efforts to crack down on gun violence. i can tell you, martin, i just heard from one white house official who says the administration has been notified about the shooting. they are monitoring the situation quite closely, and they point out this is being handled by state and local officials, so they are in contact with those officials as they continue to monitor this

developing situation. but as you point out, each of these shootings, each tragic and infuriating sort of underscores what president obama has called the need to act on this issue, and as i told you a little while ago, martin, we expect president obama, vice president biden to hit the road now that the inauguration is over and to go out and really try to sell their proposals that they unveiled several days ago to crack down on gun violence, including stiffer gun legislation, but also better access to mental health services. as you know, martin, this continues to be a very divisive issue in this nation. polls right now show that president obama has the majority of people on his side, but when it comes to some of the laws that he is hoping to get passed through congress, there's still a lot of opposition, including the reinstatement of the ban of assault weapons. so we do expect though president obama and the vice president to leave d.c., leave the white house and start to press for those measures. >> on a slightly lighter note, kristin, before today's news broke about the shooting, the

president and first lady dropped in on a white house tour, i believe, and surprised some of the folks who volunteered for his campaign. >> that's right. they did. this is something they also did back in 2009, gives the first couple a chance to thank the folks who worked so hard in the field to get the president elected back in 2009 and then re-elected again last year. so that is what they did for a short while this afternoon. what was interesting, one big difference last year it was open to the press. this year the white house captured the event. when we asked the white house why they did it differently, they said this is a tradition. it happens frequently. we don't always need to have press coverage. one other big difference, martin, this year the first lady tweeted about it, sort of letting people know that she and the president were about to surprise their volunteers, something that she was obviously looking forward to. >> that's great. nbc's kristin welker. thank you, kristin. >> reporter: thanks. >> and we'll be right back. right in the old bucket. good toss! see that's much better! that was good.

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